Text Fwd: U.S. And NATO To Wage War 15-Year War In Afghanistan And Pakistan

* Rick Rozoff on Oct. 6, 2010

Rick Rozoff blog

Stop NATO
October 6, 2010
U.S. And NATO To Wage War 15-Year War In Afghanistan And Pakistan
Rick Rozoff


On October 4 President Barack Obama and what the press characterized as his war council conducted a 30-minute video conference with Obama's Afghan opposite number, President Hamid Karzai, to discuss "a number of topics, including the strategic vision for long term US-Afghan relations, the recent Afghan parliamentary elections, and regional relations."

A statement issued by the White House later in the day added that "The two leaders agreed that they should continue routine engagements to refine a common vision and to align our efforts to support President Karzai's goal of completing transition to Afghan lead security responsibility by 2014." [1]

The conference also included Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington and commander of all U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Afghanistan General David Petraeus and American ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry from Kabul.

October 7 will mark the advent of the tenth year of the war waged by Washington in South Asia, the longest continuous combat operations in U.S. history. By invoking its Article 5 collective military assistance clause on September 12, 2001, NATO also joined the war effort and officially took over the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in August of 2003.

There are now at least 152,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, 120,000 under NATO command, and according to several recent statements by American and NATO officials most if not all them of them will remain there beyond the 2011 withdrawal date announced by the American administration last year.

If troops from all the major Western military powers in theater remain beyond New Year's Eve of 2014, they will be engaged in the fifteenth calendar year of the Pentagon's and NATO's war in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. The conflict has also allowed the expansion of American and Alliance military bases into Central Asia - Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - and the elaboration of networks for the transit of troops, military equipment and supplies and for combat training and bombing runs from Estonia and Latvia on the Baltic Sea to Georgia on the Black Sea and Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on the Caspian Sea as well as in several other nations from Eastern Europe to the so-called Broader Middle East including Pakistan, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Diego Garcia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Kazakhstan.

The fruitless pursuit of the ever more elusive Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar - as such remains the official rationale of the U.S. and the 50 military partners under NATO's umbrella in the Afghan war zone - has not registered any progress in nine years, though thousands of Afghans and Pakistanis who had no contact with either of the evasive fugitives have been killed in overnight raids, checkpoint shootings, bombing runs and drone missile strikes. Cluster bomb fragments and depleted uranium residue will guarantee more deaths into the indefinite future.

Also on October 4, President Obama handed over his administration's latest classified report on the war in Afghanistan to Congress, in which he wrote: "We are continuing to implement the policy as described in December and do not believe further adjustments are required at this time." [2] He was referring to the decision to deploy an additional 30,000 U.S. troops, which has been accompanied by a dramatic escalation of lethal drone attacks inside Pakistan.

U.S. and NATO troop strength in Afghanistan has recently passed the 150,000 mark. Two years ago there were an estimated 34,000 U.S. troops and approximately 28,000 from other NATO nations in the country. The increase since 2008 is almost 250 percent. Recently the number of nations supplying troops for NATO's ISAF mission has also grown, with commitments secured from nations like Armenia, Georgia, Colombia, Mongolia, Malaysia, South Korea (a second time), Montenegro and Tonga. General Roger Brady, outgoing commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, recently stated that 39 European nations have troops assigned to NATO in Afghanistan. The amount of countries supplying military contingents for and those that have lost troops in one nation are unprecedented.

Two major milestones were reached in the last full month of the ninth year of the war on both sides of the Durand Line that separates Afghanistan and Pakistan. With 59 NATO soldiers killed in September, the combined U.S. and NATO death toll this year in Afghanistan exceeded the previous annual high of 2009, 521. As of October 4, 561 U.S. and NATO soldiers have died this year. The three months before last were the deadliest for foreign forces in the nine-year war: 103 in June, 88 in July and 79 in August.

READ MORE

Text Fwd: Bangladesh: U.S., NATO Forge New Military Partnership In South Asia 방글라데시: 미국과 나토, 남아시아에서 새로운 군사 협력 관계 세움

* Rick Rozoff on Sept. 29, 2010

Stop NATO
September 29, 2010
Bangladesh: U.S. And NATO Forge New Military Partnership In South Asia
Rick Rozoff


The Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh disclosed on September 26 that the United States had requested combat troops for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's military command in Afghanistan.

The effort to recruit Bangladeshi soldiers for the nine-year-old war was made in an overture by U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke to Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Dipu Moni in New York City, presumably on the sidelines of or following last week's United Nations General Assembly session.

A statement issued by the government of Bangladesh said that Holbrooke "sought for any kind of help like deploying combat troops, providing economic and development assistance or giving training among the law enforcement agencies." [1]

Should the government of Bangladesh accede to the American request, it would become the 48th official Troop Contributing Nation for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the seventh Asia-Pacific nation to provide troops to the North Atlantic military alliance for its war in South Asia, one which has further advanced across Afghanistan's eastern border into Pakistan with marked ferocity during the past five days. NATO will have gained another major ally in the building of its Asian complement using the Afghan-Pakistani war theater as the grounds for integrating the armed forces of countries on the other side of the world from the North Atlantic for what is expanding into a global U.S.-led military network.

Bangladesh's combat forces would join military units from Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand among Asia-Pacific countries, with a report that a 275-troop marine contingent from Tonga is also to arrive in Afghanistan soon. Japan has personnel assigned to NATO's Provincial Reconstruction Teams in the country and in the past has supplied the U.S. with naval assistance for the war effort.

The inclusion of Bangladesh into the ranks of NATO's ISAF, however, would constitute a milestone in two key ways. It would be the only country in South Asia with troops in the war zone aside from the two nations in which the expanding conflict is being fought: Afghanistan and Pakistan. And Bangladesh would be the second most populous state contributing to NATO's military campaign, only surpassed by the U.S., as it has the seventh largest population in the world at 160 million.

The war in Afghanistan has provided the Pentagon and NATO the groundwork for working with the militaries of scores of nations under real-world and real-time combat conditions. Every European country except Belarus, Cyprus, Malta, Moldova, Russia and Serbia has deployed troops to Afghanistan under NATO command, as have the nations of the South Caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The United Arab Emirates is the first Persian Gulf state to do so.

Though not yet official contributing nations, several other countries have personnel in Afghanistan or on the way, including Bahrain, Colombia, Egypt, Japan and Ukraine. Over a quarter of the world's nations have supplied military units of various size for the North Atlantic bloc's war in Afghanistan.

In the past year both the U.S. and NATO have intensified activities aimed at integrating Bangladesh into the West's military nexus, both in preparation for the deployment of its troops to Afghanistan and for solidifying what for the past decade has been referred to as Asian NATO.

This May 12 a roundtable meeting was held in the capital of Bangladesh entitled "The Role of NATO in the New Security Order" with the participation of several "experts, military personnel and former government officials from the region." [2] The title of the event suggests it was conducted in the context of last year's discussions of the new NATO Strategic Concept held in several European and North American nations. The Indian subcontinent is far-removed from the North Atlantic Alliance's point of origin, but the new doctrine to be adopted this November at NATO's summit in Portugal will institutionalize the bloc's expansion into an international military and - to use its own term - security organization.

READ MORE

Text Fwd: Aerial surveillance over Korean camp in Afghanistan due

Korea Times
07-07-2010 21:09
Aerial surveillance over Korean camp in Afghanistan due
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff reporter

Korean and U.S. troops in Afghanistan will conduct aerial surveillance over the construction site of a Korean provincial reconstruction team (PRT) there, to detect possible attacks by local insurgents, the Joint Chiefs of Staff here said Wednesday.

The announcement comes a week after a hostile force fired rockets at the Korean PRT camp near Charikar.

The construction site was hit last week by two rockets presumably fired by an insurgent group. There were no casualties or any significant damage to Korean facilities under construction.

"In cooperation with the U.S. military, aerial surveillance operations will be held one or two times every day near the PRT construction site to thwart attacks by a hostile force," Col. Lee Boong-wu, spokesman for the JCS, told reporters.

Lee said the Korean and U.S. militaries have been actively exchanging intelligence on insurgent moves in Afghanistan since the base was hit by rockets.

"Surveillance equipment, including thermal observation devices, has been installed around the site," the spokesman said.

Construction of the Korean PRT base is scheduled to be completed by August or September, and other facilities will be set up by December, he added.

Seoul officials believe last week's rocket attack was a warning from an insurgent group a day before the main contingent of the South Korean troops arrived Thursday at the U.S. air base in Bagram.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr

______________________________________________________________

* Related blog
http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/2010/07/text-fwd-skorean-prt-site-in.html
Friday, July 2, 2010
Text Fwd: S.Korean PRT site in Afghanistan comes under attack

Text Fwd: NATO Tightens Relations With South Korea, Weighs In On Conflict

Stop NATO

Malaysian National News Agency: Bernama.com
Bernama (Malaysia)
July 6, 2010


NATO Wants To Increase Cooperation With South Korea, Non-Members

-Speaking of cooperation, Brengelmann noted NATO's show of support for South Korea in light of the sinking of its warship Cheonan....The diplomat said some NATO members also serve on the U.N. Security Council and that the NATO members will try to ensure any Security Council action on the Cheonan sinking will represent their views expressed in the NATO statement.


SEOUL: The world's biggest military alliance, NATO, is looking to increase cooperation with South Korea and other partners beyond Europe and North America to meet global challenges such as proliferation and piracy, a senior NATO official said Tuesday.

"Our security interests and security interests of countries like Korea coincide today more than ever," Dirk Brengelmann, NATO's assistant secretary general for political affairs and security policy, said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency.
....

Brengelmann was to wrap up his two-day stay in Seoul later Tuesday following the third annual policy consultation talks between South Korea and NATO. Brengelmann's NATO delegation will also visit Japan and China for similar policy talks.

The German diplomat, who had served in missions in Haiti and Britain before being appointed to his current post in March this year, pointed to South Korea's reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan as an example of cooperation. Seoul has joined NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the war-ravaged nation.

"We share interest when it comes to sound security policy," Brengelmann said, noting that it was "a happy coincidence" that he was in Seoul only a few days after South Korea launched its Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Afghanistan.

The official lauded South Korea for taking a "comprehensive approach" to its Afghanistan efforts by sending troops and police forces along with civilian reconstruction workers.
....
"The Korean PRT is a good example of what we call the 'civ-mil (civilian-military) comprehensive approach' in trying to make sure that your military efforts are being complemented by other sides," he added.

Speaking of cooperation, Brengelmann noted NATO's show of support for South Korea in light of the sinking of its warship Cheonan.

On May 20, when a Seoul-led multinational probe blamed North Korea for the March 26 sinking that left 46 sailors dead, a NATO statement said it "strongly condemns the North Korean actions" that led to the sinking. The statement also argued the North's action constituted "a clear breach of international law."

The diplomat said some NATO members also serve on the U.N. Security Council and that the NATO members will try to ensure any Security Council action on the Cheonan sinking will represent their views expressed in the NATO statement.

Seoul referred the Cheonan sinking to the Security Council on June 4, hoping to censure Pyongyang for the alleged attack.

Debates have emerged as to whether South Korea should pursue a binding resolution rather than a presidential statement, but Brengelmann opined that the format is less important than the content.

"Normally, a U.N. Security Council resolution is the stronger of the two, but the presidential statement has its values," Bregelmann said, echoing the sentiment often expressed by South Korean diplomats.

"I wouldn't put too much emphasis on that. I'd rather go for the content in either one, and look for the content, but not so much on the format of the statement."
____________________________________________________________
Stop NATO
Blog site

Text Fwd: Afghan War: Petraeus Expands U.S. Military Presence In Eurasia

Rick Rozoff on July 4, 2010

Afghan War: Petraeus Expands U.S. Military Presence Throughout Eurasia
Rick Rozoff


On July 4 General David Petraeus assumed command of 142,000 U.S. and NATO troops in a ceremony in the Afghan capital of Kabul. He succeeded the disgraced and soon to be retired General Stanley McChrystal as chief of all foreign troops in Afghanistan, those serving under U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A)/Operation Enduring Freedom and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

He now commands military units from 46 official troop contributing nations and others from several additional countries not officially designated as such but with forces in or that will soon be deployed to Afghanistan, such as Egypt, Jordan and Colombia. Neither the Carthaginian commander Hannibal during the Second Punic War nor Napoleon Bonaparte in the wars that bore his name commanded troops speaking as many diverse tongues.

That Petraeus took charge of soldiers from fifty nations occupying a conquered country on his own country's Independence Day has gone without commentary, either ironic or indignant. In 1775 American colonists began an eight-year war against foreign troops - those of Britain and some 30,000 German auxiliaries, the latter a quarter of all forces serving under English command in North America. Currently the three nations providing the most troops for the nearly nine-year-old and increasingly deadly war in Afghanistan are the U.S. (almost 100,000), Britain (9,500) and Germany (4,500).

Petraeus's remarks on the occasion of accepting his new dual command contained the standard U.S. and NATO characterization of their war in Afghanistan as aimed exclusively against armed extremists, in particular those portrayed as fighters from other countries. A representative quote states "al-Qaeda and its network of extremist allies will not be allowed to once again establish sanctuaries in Afghanistan." Two hundred and forty-five years ago the government of King George III may well have spoken in a similar vein concerning the likes of Johann de Kalb, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, Casimir Pulaski, Friedrich Von Steuben and the Marquis de Lafayette illegally entering British territories along the Atlantic Seaboard and waging warfare against the Crown's troops.

MORE READING

Stop NATO
Blog site

Text Fw: NATO Welcomes South Korea As 46th Afghan War Troop Contributor

* Text informed by Rick Rozoff on April 22, 2010 (also in Stop NATO)

Australian Government Department of Defense

22/04/2010

REPUBLIC OF KOREA JOINS ISAF as A NON NATO CONTRIBUTING NATION

The Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, today acknowledged that the NATO Secretary General has formally welcomed the Republic of Korea (ROK) as the 46th contributor to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

Following an offer by the South Korean Government in November 2009 to deploy a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) to Parwan province, the relevant certification processes have been completed and the ROK has been officially recognised as a non‑NATO ISAF Contributing Nation.
“Australia is committed to the NATO-led ISAF mission to stabilise Afghanistan, with around 1550 Australian Defence Force personnel deployed there,” Air Chief Marshal Houston said.

“We warmly welcome the Republic of Korea as a non-NATO ISAF Contributing Nation and look forward to assisting the ROK PRT prepare for its deployment.

“The ROK team will comprise 50-70 civilians, 30-50 police officers and 200-400 infantry troops. The troops will be tasked with protection of the PRT and will not play a combat role.”

Australia is the largest non-NATO contributor to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. Our military contribution is part of a Whole-of-Government effort to deny Afghanistan as a training ground and operating base for global terrorist organisations; stabilise the nation through a combination of military, police and civilian efforts; and train the Afghan National Security Forces to a level where they can take security responsibility for Oruzgan Province themselves.


Media contact: Defence Media Liaison: (02) 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664

Text Fwd: West's Afghan War: From Conquest To Bloodbath

West's Afghan War: From Conquest To Bloodbath
Rick Rozoff (also at Stop NATO)
January 5, 2010


---------
"When the commander in Kabul asked Obama for the extra troops, he knew the USA would end up with one achievement, and that is more civilian casualties."

"Every time an American soldier gets killed, they bomb an entire village."

"This thing is going to be $5 billion to $10 billion a month and 300 to 500 killed and wounded a month by next summer. That’s what we probably should expect. And that’s light casualties.”
---------


On December 29 the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released figures demonstrating that Afghan civilian deaths had risen by 10 percent in the first ten months of 2009, from 1,838 during the same period a year earlier to 2,038. The majority of the killings were attributed to insurgent attacks, including those directed against U.S., NATO and government targets, but almost 500 civilians were killed by American and NATO forces.

Matters only grew worse last November and December, culminating in several massacres of Afghan civilians by Western forces at the end of the year.

In early December a NATO air strike killed thirteen civilians in Laghman province. One account also documents a deadly raid by American special forces there. "According to witnesses, US troops entered a number of houses near the provincial capital, Mehtar Lam, in an overnight operation. The victims included Mohammed Ismail, whose 10-year-old son, Rafiullah, described what happened: 'When the soldiers came to our house, my father asked them, "Who are you?" Then they shot him in the head and told us, "Be quiet and tell us where the weapons are."'" [1]

The chairman of the Laghman provincial council presciently commented on the killings that "When the commander in Kabul asked Obama for the extra troops, he knew the USA would end up with one achievement, and that is more civilian casualties." [2]

On the same day that the above-cited UN report was made public an air attack by U.S.-led warplanes killed four Afghans in the northern province of Baghlan. According to one report "A father and his three sons were reportedly among the [fatalities]. The raid also wounded eight others." [3]

A member of parliament from a neighboring province, Haji Farid, said after the aerial onslaught that "Every time an American soldier gets killed, they bomb an entire village." [4]

The following day a NATO missile strike killed seven Afghan civilians in Helmand province. According to the New York Times, "Neither NATO forces nor the Helmand governor’s office gave a definitive number of dead, but reports from local people said that five to seven civilians had been killed, including three children." [5] Later a spokesman for the governor of the province confirmed that seven civilians had been slain and another wounded.

Far more atrocious news broke the same day, December 30, when, according to the next day's edition of The Times of London, "American-led troops were accused...of dragging innocent children from their beds and shooting them during a night raid that left ten people dead" in Kunar province near the Pakistani border. [6]

U.S.-installed and -supported President Hamid Karzai dispatched an investigative team headed by former governor of Helmand province Assadullah Wafa to the scene of the massacre, dubbed by at least one news source as an Afghan My Lai.

A statement was later issued on the official website of the Afghan president that said in part: "The delegation concluded that a unit of international forces descended from a plane Sunday night into Ghazi Khan village in Narang district of the eastern province of Kunar and took ten people from three homes, eight of them school students in grades six, nine and ten, one of them a guest, the rest from the same family, and shot them dead."

The delegation's head, Wafa, added that "US soldiers flew to Kunar from Kabul, suggesting that they were part of a special forces unit," and was quoted as saying "I spoke to the local headmaster. It's impossible they were al-Qaeda. They were children, they were civilians, they were innocent. I condemn this attack." [7]

READ MORE

Text Fwd: Afghan Students, Professors Tell NATO Troops To Leave

* Image source: Bruce Gagnon blog

* Image source: Google
'Map of Kabul c.1880'

StopNATO
Afghan Students, Professors Tell NATO Troops To Leave

Pakistan Observer
Hundreds of Afghans rally against NATO forces

Kabul/Jalalabad—Hundreds of people, mostly students rallied in central Kabul and eastern Nangarhar provinces against the killing of civilians in foreign forces operations.

Four civilians were killed during an operation of NATO forces in Baghlan and eleven, eight of them schoolchildren, were killed in eastern Kunar and 13 others were perished in an overnight air raid of NATO-soldiers in Laghman province.

Activists of youth branch of Jamiat Eslah (Afghan Society for Social Reform and Development) staged a demonstration in Kabul, condemning the airstrikes and demanded withdrawal of the troops.

“If Afghan government did not stop civilian killing, it would lead to national upraising against foreigners,” chief of the youth branch Dr. Syed Khalid Rashid said.

The demonstration was attended by hundreds of youths, including university students and professors of Kabul University. They passed a resolution asking ISAF soldiers to leave Afghanistan.

The resolution urged Afghan government and the law-enforcement agencies to seriously probe the killings and bring the perpetrators to justice.

It also asked the United Nations, human rights watchdogs and international community not to stay silent over the killing and massacre of Afghan civilian.

A similar protest demonstration was carried out in eastern Nangarhar province, bordering Pakistan.

Students of the Nangarhar University who staged the demonstration chanted slogans against foreign soldiers and Afghan government.

The protestors blocked the Sehat-i-Ama Square against traffic for two and a half hours. Speaking on behalf of students, a student leader Safiullah said: “US soldiers have intentionally killed the schoolchildren.” Another student Hanifullah urged Afghan government to order the international troops to leave the country.—NNI


* Related blog

http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/2009/12/photo-fwd-afghans-protest-natos-killing.html
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Photo Fwd: Afghans Protest NATO's Killing Of Children, Other Civilians

Text Fwd: Swedes, Finn, Korean Among NATO Afghan Fatalities

StopNATO
Swedes, Finn, Korean Among NATO Afghan Fatalities

Canada.com
December 31, 2009
ISAF casualities in Afghanistan

ISAF has suffered 1,481 casualties in Afghanistan as of Dec. 31, 2009. (This
figure does not include four Canadian non-military casualties)

U.S. 860
U.K. 244
CANADA 138 (does not include civilian deaths - one diplomat, two aid workers
and one journalist)
FRANCE 36
GERMANY 34
DENMARK 30
SPAIN 26
ITALY 22
NETHERLANDS 21
POLAND 16
ROMANIA 11
AUSTRALIA 11
ESTONIA 7
NORWAY 4
CZECH REPUBLIC 3
LATVIA 3
TURKEY 2
PORTUGAL 2
HUNGARY 2
SWEDEN 2
SOUTH KOREA 1
LITHUANIA 1
FINLAND 1
BELGIUM 1
===========================
Stop NATO
Blog site:

Text Fwd: Afghanistan: World's Lengthiest War Has Just Begun

Rick Rozoff
Afghanistan: World's Lengthiest War Has Just Begun
Stop NATO
December 18, 2009

The higher number of Defense Department contractors, 160,000, added to over 100,000 troops - with the likely prospect of both numbers climbing yet more - will result in over a quarter of a million U.S. personnel serving under the Pentagon and NATO. The latter has 42,000 non-U.S. troops fighting under its command currently and pledges of 8,000 more to date, with thousands in addition to be conscripted after the London conference on Afghanistan next month. Approximately 35,000 U.S. soldiers are also assigned to NATO's ISAF and if the 33,000 new American troops are similarly deployed the North Atlantic bloc will have over 120,000 forces fighting a land war in Asia. Along with a Pakistani army of 700,000 active duty troops fighting on the other side of the border and an Afghan army of 100,000 soldiers, there will soon be well over a million military personnel engaged in a war with a few hundred al-Qaeda and a few thousand Taliban forces.

----------
Despite U.S. President Barack Obama's pledge in his December 1 address at the West Point Military Academy that deploying 30,000 more of his nation's troops to Afghanistan would be coupled with "a goal of starting to withdraw forces from the country in July 2011," everything else he has said and all the facts on the ground suggest that the war will continue into the indefinite future.

At a press conference a week before the West Point troop surge announcement he said "it is my intention to finish the job," and in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech on December 10 he affirmed: "We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth: We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes."

History establishes that it is easier to deploy to than to withdraw from an active war zone.

The White House has already increased U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan from 32,000 at the beginning of the year to over twice that amount - 68,000 - currently, with the first contingent of even more reinforcements arriving this week. The 30,000 additional troops headed to the war front and the 3,000 more support forces pledged by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will push American military personnel in Afghanistan to over 100,000.

That number, likely to be increased yet further and accompanied by a veritable invasion of private military contractors and State Department operatives, will be augmented by over 10,000 more non-U.S. troops serving under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), bringing combined American and NATO regular military forces to well over 150,000 and total Western personnel to over 300,000 with an estimated surge of as many as 56,000 new U.S. contractors. With the addition of assorted security, intelligence, private contracting and other military camp followers from NATO nations, the figure could top a third of a million.

An occupation and warfighting force of those dimensions is not designed for a limited mission or a short stay.

In fact on December 6 U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones (former top NATO military commander in Europe) gave the lie to the 2011 withdrawal anodyne in an interview with CNN when he brashly asserted "We have strategic interests in South Asia that should not be measured in terms of finite times. We’re going to be in the region for a long time.”

Jones also emphasized the extension of the war in space as well as time by stating American reinforcements and redeployments would concentrate on eastern and southern Afghanistan to "eliminate the safe havens" inside Pakistan, a nation with a population of 175 million and nuclear weapons.

His claims, more authoritative than those of the president he serves, were echoed by Pentagon chief Robert Gates. Earlier this week it was reported that "In a visit to the war zone last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Afghanistan's senior military officials that while the U.S. looks forward to the day when the Afghans can take control of their country, the United States would have a large number of forces in Afghanistan for some time beyond July 2011."

Gates in his own words: "This is a relationship forged in blood. We will see it [through] to the end." [1]

To demonstrate the scale of the U.S. and NATO intensification of the war in Afghanistan - so urgent, evidently, that it is being qualitatively escalated during the Christmas season - in addition to Gates's visit to the Afghan war front, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, new German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor Zu Guttenberg and other top Western military and political leaders have recently traveled to Afghanistan to inspect their respective nations' military forces stationed there.

READ MORE

68 Organizations Denounce the Passage of the ‘Proposal for Agreement of the Dispatch to Afghanistan’ by the Government Cabinet Meeting.

* Photo by Koh Sung-Jin, Tongil News (same article below)Dec. 8, 2009

The yellow papers say. “Oppose Dispatch, Stop the Occupation”
The red board says, “ Oppose the Re-Dispatch to Afghanistan: For the humanity rather than false national interests”(University Students’ Sharing Culture).”

* Image source: Yonhap News, Dec. 8, 2009


* Image source: Korea Times, Dec. 8, 2009

68 Organizations Denounce the Passage of the ‘Proposal for Agreement of the Dispatch to Afghanistan’ by the Government Cabinet Meeting.

Tongil News, Dec. 8, 2009,
Koh, Sung-Jin reporter (kolong81@tongilnews.com)

* Below is unofficial translation of the most parts of the article above.

The Civilian Alliance Against the Redeployment of Troops to Afghanistan, composed of 68 organizations, strongly denounced the South Korean government’s decision to carry the proposal for the agreement of the dispatch to Afghanistan, through the government cabinet meeting, in the press interview at 1pm, Dec. 8, at the building of People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), Seoul.

The organizations announced through its press interview statement that said, “We strongly denounce the government decision that is anti-democratic and anti-peace, which unilaterally drives for the re-dispatch to Afghanistan, while not only ignoring the public opinion opposing the re-dispatch but also totally reversing down the [former government's] agreement with its people in 2007 that the [South Korea] would not re-dispatch to Afghanistan.”

The organizations told that“ We have announced that the dispatch to Afghanistan is not for the “reconstruction” but for the support for the occupation. […]. They criticized the government, saying that “Still. The government is deceiving people, saying again that the deployed troops are not combat troops but the reconstruction team helping the provincial reconstruction”.

Following it, the organizations saying. “ Then, why the government composes the 500 of the PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) with the special combat troops, arming them with heavy weapons, and even dispatch the fighter helicopter for the first time since the Vietnam war?”, heightened their voice that “Even though the government tries to persuade people, emphasizing the need of re-dispatch to Afghanistan by all means, it can not hide the truth that it is the dispatch to support the massacre war”.

Lee Tae-Ho, Secretary for Cooperation, PSPD saying that [the government] “did not include the PRT in the proposal” told that “We can not but highly concern about [its proposal], in the sense that the government, repeating its claim that the PRT is not the multi-national force but the civilian agents, announced that it would not need the agreement by the National Assembly, on the matter of the dispatch of the PRT in the future, as well.”

Saying that, “While the government is abnormally operating the PRT, the PRT is the ISAF itself, in Afghanistan”, he pinpointed out that “ Does it fit to the general [principal] of the international society the government says, that it does not need the agreement by the National Assembly to dispatch the troops, under the [false] cause of protection of the PRT?”

Saying that ”While other countries are planning to withdraw, [the South Korean] government broke up the existing custom to get the agreement for dispatch [by the National Assembly], every year, and it defined the dispatch term of two years and six months”, he appealed that “Obviously, it is the subject for the hearing [by the national Assembly]. The National Assembly must pinpoint out, in detail, regarding the issue of the dispatch to Afghanistan, which is [by the decision of the government] obstinate and irresponsible, reversing down the agreement with the people by [the former government].”

[…]

* Related blogs

Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Text Fwd:[Statement] We Denounce the Passage of the Proposal for the Agreement of Dispatch to Afghanistan by the Cabinet Meeting.

Monday, Nov. 30, 2009
Text Fwd: [Statement] Is the Lee Myung Bak Government, By All Means, to Submit the Proposal for the Agreement for the Dispatch, to the National Assembly?
(Unofficial translation)

Blog Collection: No Korean Troops in Afghanistan


* Related articles

Yonhap News
S. Korea finalizes plan for troop deployment to Afghanistan
Dec. 8, 2009

Korea Times
360 Troops, Police Officers to Be Dispatched to Afghanistan
By Jung Sung-ki, 12-08-2009

Joongang Ilbo (Informed by StopNATO, with the title of 'Afghanistan: NATO To Get First Contingent Of South Korean Troops')
Government details plan to send troops to Afghanistan
Up to 350 soldiers will guard Korean aid workers
By Yoo Jee-ho, December 9, 2009
“We must reach a participation agreement with ISAF, and I attended a
conference with foreign ministers of ISAF members last week to consult with NATO
representatives. The ISAF is taking steps to bring us on board and we expect to
become a member within the next couple of weeks.”

Text Fwd:[Statement] We Denounce the Passage of the Proposal for the Agreement of Dispatch to Afghanistan by the Cabinet Meeting.

• Below is the unofficial translation of the statement loaded in the site, Left 21

[아프가니스탄 재파병 반대 시민사회단체 연석회의 성명서]
2009년 12월 8일

[Statement by the Civilian Alliance
Against the Redeployment of Troops to Afghanistan]
Dec. 8, 2009

아프가니스탄 파병 동의안 국무회의 통과 규탄한다.

We Denounce the Passage of the Proposal for the Agreement of Dispatch to Afghanistan by the Cabinet Meeting.


오늘(8일) 국무회의에서 ‘국군부대의 아프가니스탄 파견 동의안’이 통과됐다. 우리는 재파병에 반대하는 국민 여론을 무시할 뿐 아니라, 지난 2007년 아프가니스탄에 재파병하지 않겠다는 국민과의 합의를 완전히 뒤집고 일방적으로 아프간에 재파병을 추진하는 이명박 정부의 비민주적이며 반(反)평화적인 결정을 강력히 규탄한다.

Today, on Dec. 8, 2009, the ‘Proposal for the Agreement of the South Korean Troop Dispatch to Afghanistan’ was passed by the cabinet meeting. We strongly denounce the Lee Myung Bak government’s decision to drive for the re-dispatch to Afghanistan, which is anti-democratic and anti-peace, and that is not only ignoring the public opinion to oppose the re-dispatch but also totally reversing down [the former government’s] decision that it would not re-dispatch to Afghanistan.

설상가상으로 국민의 안위를 걱정해야 마땅할 대통령이 재파병이 부를 재앙을 외면한 채 “국민이 필요 이상의 걱정을 하고 있다”고 했다. 그러나 무엇이 “필요 이상의 걱정”이란 말인가? 국민들은 2007년 아프가니스탄 파병 정책 때문에 윤장호 하사를 잃었고, 그해 여름에는 23명의 선교사들이 피랍됐을 뿐 아니라 2명이 목숨을 잃었다. 또, ‘테러와의 전쟁’에 동참한 대가로 한국이 테러 대상 국가가 된 지 오래다. 자이툰 부대가 “기름밭 위에 있다”며 피 묻은 이라크 인들의 석유에 눈독을 드리더니 이제는 국민 생명은 안중에도 없고, 아프가니스탄인들을 학살하면서 무엇을 얻으려는 것인가?

Furthermore, the President who must concern about the safety and well-fare of people, while ignoring the disaster that the re-dispatch would bring, told that “The people are concerning about, more than they need.” However, what is the “concerning about, more than need”. The people lost the staff sergeant, Yoon Jang-Ho in 2007, for the policy of dispatch to Afghanistan, and two people lost their lives [by being killed] when the 23 [Christian] missionaries were abducted in summer, same year. It has been long time that the South Korea has become the target of terror, for her involvement in the ‘war on terror’, as well. While the Zaitoon troop unit saying, “We are on the oil field”, the South Korea has coveted the Iraq oil tainted by the Iraqis’ blood, now the government with no concern of the lives of its people, what does it aim for, killing the Afghans?

그동안 우리는 아프가니스탄 파병이 ‘재건’이 아니라 점령 지원임을 분명히 밝혀 왔다. 미국 의회 내에서조차 아프가니스탄 ‘재건’은 실패했다는 것이 공공연한 사실이다. ‘재건’ 사업은 부패로 얼룩져 복마전이 된 지 오래다. 그런데도 정부는 국민을 속이며 또다시 “파병되는 군이 전투병이 아니라 지역 재건을 돕는 재건팀”이라고 우기고 있다.

For a time being, we have announced that the dispatch to Afghanistan is not ‘reconstruction’ but the support for occupation. Even in the United States Congress, it is the open fact that the ‘reconstruction’ of Afghanistan has failed. It has been long that the ‘reconstruction’ business, smeared with corruption, has become an abode of demons, Still then, the government, deceiving its people, again asserts that “The dispatched is not the combat troops but the reconstruction team that helps the provincial reconstruction.”

그렇다면 정부는 왜 500여 명으로 구성된 지역재건팀(PRT)을 특전사로 구성하고, 이들을 중화기로 무장한 채, 베트남 전쟁 이후 최초로 전투 헬기까지 함께 보내는가? 정부가 아무리 아프간 재파병 필요성을 강변하며 국민을 설득하려 해도 결국 학살 전쟁을 뒷받침할 파병이라는 진실을 가릴 수는 없다. 또한 아프간 철군을 약속했던 국민과의 합의를 일방적으로 파기한 정치적 책임 또한 절대 피해 갈 수 없을 것이다.

Then, why the government send the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), composed of 500, with the special combat troop, arming it with heavy weapons, and even together with the combat helicopters? Even thought the government, forcefully asserting the need of the re-dispatch to Afghanistan, tries to persuade its people, by all means, it can never hide the truth that it is the dispatch to support the massacre war. Nor it can avoid its political responsibility that it unilaterally abandoned [the former government’s] promise to its people of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

우리는 이명박 정부에 엄중히 경고한다. 이명박 정부는 즉각 아프간 재파병 추진을 중단하라. 지역재건팀(PRT)도 경찰도 이를 보호할 경계 병력도 모두 명백하게 국민과의 약속을 어긴 아프간 재파병이라는 점에서 절대 정당화될 수 없다. 국회는 이러한 아프간 재파병을 손쉽게 찬성해서도 묵과해서도 안 될 것이다. 아프가니스탄 재파병에 반대하는 제 시민사회단체들은 아프가니스탄 재파병을 저지하기 위해 강력히 투쟁할 것이다. 끝

We severely warn against the Lee Myung Bak government. Lee Myung-Bak government, immediately stop the re-dispatch to Afghanistan. Any of the PRT, police, and the security troops to protect the two can never be justified, in the sense that it is the re-dispatch to Afghanistan, which clearly violated the promise with people. The National Assembly must neither easily be in favor of [the proposal] nor be silent with it. All the civil organizations opposing the re-dispatch to Afghanistan will strongly and firmly fight to stop the re-dispatch to Afghanistan.


2009년 12월 8일

Dec, 8, 2009

아프가니스탄 재파병 반대 시민사회단체 연석회의

Civilian Alliance Against the Redeployment of Troops to Afghanistan,
South Korea


* Related blog:
http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/2009/12/68-organizations-denounce-passage-of.html
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
68 Organizations Denounce the Passage of the ‘Proposal for Agreement of the Dispatch to Afghanistan’ by the Government Cabinet Meeting.

Text Fwd: [Statement] Is the Lee Government, By All Means, to Submit the Proposal for the Agreement for the Dispatch, to the National Assembly?

* Below is the unofficial translation of the statement by the Civilian Alliance Against the Redeployment of Troops to Afghanistan, composed of 68 organizations in South Korea, on Nov. 30, 2009.


[성명]이명박 정부는 기어이 국회에 파병동의안을 제출하려는 것인가?
2009년 11월 30일

[Statement] Is the Lee Myung Bak Government, By All Means, to Submit the Proposal for the Agreement for the Dispatch, to the National Assembly?
Nov. 30, 2009

이명박 정부는 다음 주 국무회의를 거쳐 12월 국회에 파병동의안을 제출하기로제출하기로 했다. 재파병을 결정한 직후 정부는 신속하게 국회 동의안까지 제출할 심산이다. 그러나 국민의국민의 과반 수 이상이 재파병에 반대하는데도 “불통” 정부는 한나라당이 다수인 국회에 파병 동의안을파병 동의안을 제출해 기어이 학살 전쟁에 군대를 재파병하겠다는 것인가?

The Lee Myung Bak government has decided to submit the proposal for the agreement for the dispatch, to the National Assembly, in December, after the passage by the cabinet meeting next week. The government, right after its decision to re-dispatch to Afghanistan, is intending to promptly submit the proposal for the agreement to the National Assembly, as well. However, while more than half of the [South Korean] people oppose the re-dispatch, is the “no understanding” government, by all means, willing to re-deploy the troops for the massacre war, by submitting the proposal for the agreement for the dispatch, to the National Assembly where the majority is the Grand National Party (* the conservative right wing party)?

우리는 재파병에 반대하는 국민 여론을 무시할 뿐 아니라, 지난 2007년 아프가니스탄에 재파병하지 않겠다는 국민과의 합의를 완전히완전히 뒤집고 일방적으로 아프간에 재파병을 추진하는 정부의 비민주적이며 반(反)평화적인 결정을 강력히 규탄한다.

We strongly denounce the government decision that is anti-democratic and anti-peace, which unilaterally drives for the re-dispatch to Afghanistan, while not only ignoring the public opinion opposing the re-dispatch but also totally reversing down the [former government’s] agreement with its people in 2007 that [South Korea] would not re-dispatch to Afghanistan.

지난 11월 12일 정부는정부는 국민 몰래 아프가니스탄 현지로 정부합동실사단을 파견했다. 실사단 파견 직전까지만 해도 외통부외통부 장관 유명환은 “이달 중 파견하기 쉽지 않을 것 같다”며 시치미를 땠다. 실사단은실사단은 아프가니스탄에서 무엇을 했는가? 점령군인 미군, 나토군의 지휘를 받는 국제안보지원군(ISAF), 부정선거로 당선한 카르자이카르자이 정부 인사들을 만나 아프가니스탄 현지의 사정을 알고 돌아왔다고 했다. 그러나그러나 대다수 아프가니스탄인들이 점령에 반대하고 있다는 사실은 왜 말하지 않는가? 이미 점령에점령에 반대하는 탈레반 세력이 아프가니스탄의 80퍼센트를 장악하고 있다.

Last November 12th, the government dispatched the joint research and investigation team to Afghanistan, without informing to people. Even right before the dispatch of [it], Ryu Myung-Hwan, the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Department feigned it, saying that “It will not likely to dispatch [the joint research and investigation team] within this month.” What did the joint research and investigation team do in Afghanistan? They say that they did meet the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) ordered by the NATO, and the honoraries of the Karzai government who were elected by the illegal votes. But why do they not tell the fact that most Afghans oppose against the occupation? Already the Taliban who oppose against the occupation has grasped 80% of Afghanistan.

실사단은 파병 예정지로 손꼽히는 파르완 주(州)가 “가장 안전한안전한 지역 중 하나”라며 또다시 국민을 속이고 있다. 그러나 파르완 주(州)는 지난 3년3년 동안 탈레반이 상시적으로 출몰하는 지역으로 이미 탈레반이 장악한 지역에 속한다. 1주일에1주일에 한 번 이상 탈레반이 공격하는 지역이자 아프가니스탄에서 “미군의 무덤”으로 불리는 지역이다. 게다가게다가 2007년 윤장호 하사가 파르완 주(州)에 있는 바그람 기지 앞에서 경비를 서다 폭탄폭탄 공격으로 사망하지 않았는가?

The joint research and investigation team is again deceiving people, saying that the Parwan state that has been pointed out as a planned area for the dispatch is “one of the most safe regions” However, the Parwan state is where the Taliban has routinely appeared for last three years and already belongs to the region that the Taliban has occupied. It is the region where the Taliban attacks more than once a week and is called the “Tomb of the United States Forces” in Afghanistan. Furthermore, wasn’t the staff sergeant, Yoon Jang-Ho killed by the bomb attack, while he was standing as a security, in front of the Bagram air force base in 2007, was he?

폭력과 인권유린으로인권유린으로 악명 높은 바그람 기지 근처로 군대를 파병하겠다는 것도 위험한 발상이지만, 미군들이미군들이 많으니 안전하다는 외통부의 설명은 이 정부가 얼마나 국민 목숨을 하찮게 여기는지 보여보여 준다. 테러의 주된 표적이 미군과 미군기지이기 때문에 미군 사망자 수가 급증하고 있다.있다. 미군 곁으로 파병하겠다는 것은 자살행위나 다름없다.

It is a very dangerous idea to dispatch the troops to near the Bagram AFB infamous for violation and abuse of human rights but the explanation by the Foreign Affairs and Trade Department, that the area is safe because there is a lot of the United States force, shows how the current government takes the lives of people worthlessly. The causality rate of the United States forces is increasing because the main target of terror is the United States force and its bases. It is nothing but the suicide act to dispatch the troops to the area beside which the United States force is staying.

정부가 아무리 아프간 재파병 필요성을 강변하며 국민을 설득하려 해도 결국결국 학살 전쟁을 뒷받침할 파병이라는 진실을 가릴 수는 없다. 또한 아프간 철군을 약속했던약속했던 국민과의 합의를 일방적으로 파기한 정치적 책임 또한 절대 피해 갈 수수 없을 것이다.

Even though the government tries to persuade people, emphasizing the need of re-dispatch to Afghanistan by all means, it can never hide the truth that it is the dispatch to support the massacre war. Also, it can never avoid its political responsibility that it unilaterally abandoned its agreement with people with whom [the former government] had promised the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

우리는 이명박 정부에정부에 엄중히 경고한다. 이명박 정부는 즉각 아프간 재파병 추진을 중단하라. PRT도 경찰도경찰도 이를 보호할 경계병력도 모두 명백하게 국민과의 약속을 어긴 아프간 재파병이라는 점에서 절대절대 정당화될 수 없다. 국회는 이러한 아프간 재파병을 손쉽게 찬성해서도 묵과해서도 안 될될 것이다.

We severely warn against the Lee Myung Bak government. Lee Myung bak government, immediately stop the drive for the re-dispatch to Afghanistan! In the sense that the PRT, the police, the security force to protect the two are all meant to re-dispatch to Afghanistan, which clearly violates the promise with people, they can never be justified. The National Assembly of Republic of Korea must be neither easily in favor of it nor silent of its opinion.

아프가니스탄 재파병에 반대하는반대하는 제 시민사회단체들은 아프가니스탄 재파병을 저지하기 위해 강력히 투쟁할 것이다. 정 부는 최근 이와 관련한 기자회견 및 촛불문화제에서 과도하게 진압하며 탄압을 해 왔다. 정부의 그 어떤 탄압도 우리의 반전평화 열망을 봉쇄하지는 못할 것이다. 우리는 아프간 재파병을 반대하는 다양한 반전평화 행동들을 더욱 더 적극적으로 펼쳐나갈 것이다. 아프간 재파병을 중단하라. 끝

The civil social organizations opposing the re-dispatch to Afghanistan will strongly fight to stop the re-dispatch to Afghanistan. The government, related to that matter, has severely cracked down and oppressed the people in press interview and candle light culture event. No oppression can block our aspiration for anti-war and peace. We will more actively drive our various activities for peace and anti-war, opposing dispatch to Afghanistan. Stop the re-dispatch to Afghanistan!

Nov. 30, 2009

아프가니스탄 재파병 반대 시민사회단체 연석회의
The Civilian Alliance Against the Redeployment of Troops to Afghanistan

반전평화연대(준), 이명박 심판! 민주주의 민중생종권 쟁취 공동투쟁본부, 건강사회를위한약사회, 건강사회를위한치과의사회, 경계를넘어, 국제노동자교류센터, 기독교사회선교연대회의, 나눔문화, 남북공동선언실천연대, 노동건강연대, 노동인권회관, 녹색연합, 농민약국, 다함께, 대학생나눔문화, 대학생다함께, 동성애자인권연대, 문화연대, 미친교육반대청소년인권보장청소년연대, 민가협양심수후원회, 민주주의자주통일대학대표자협의회(건), 민주노동당, 민족자주평화통일중앙회의, 민주노동자전국회의, 민주화운동가족협의회, 민족문제연구소, 민족민주열사희생자추모(기념)단체연대회의, 보건의료단체연합, 불교평화연대, (사)민족화합운동연합, 사월혁명회, (사)전국민주화운동유가족협의회, 사회당, 사회진보연대, 우리마당, 우리민족연방제통일추진회의, 예수살기, 615공동선언실천청년학생연대, 21세기한국대학생연합, 2005년파병철회단식동지회, 인도주의실천의사협의회, 자본의위기전가에맞서싸우는공동투쟁본부, 전국농민회총연맹, 전국민족민주유가족협의회, 민주공무원노동조합, 전국민주노동조합총연맹, 전국빈민연합, 전국여성농민회총연합, 전국여성연대, 전국학생행진, 전쟁없는세상, 조국통일범민족연합남측본부, 진보신당, 참여연대, 참된의료실현을위한청년한의사회, 통일광장, 팔레스타인평화연대, 평화네트워크, 평화와통일을여는사람들, 평화여성회, 평화의친구들, 평화재향군인회, 한국대학총학생회연합, 한국노동사회연구소, 한국진보연대, 한국청년단체연합(준), 한국청년연합, 한국카톨릭농민회(21일 현재 67개 단체)